RE: Happy 5th Birthday!

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From: Adam Rifkin (adam@KnowNow.com)
Date: Mon Dec 25 2000 - 12:45:20 PST


I too would prefer FoRK stay up in its current incarnation. (For better
or worse, Rohit, I prefer a list in which you don't whine about your
social life... :)

Jeff wrote:
> I had the pleasure of attending the W3C advisory committee where I
> commented on the nature of collaboration (being a collaboration
> weenie, myself) in the working groups.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I no longer know who's on the W3C AC.
I think Larry Masinter is still there, but now he works for Adobe.

I can't believe how little I think about the W3C anymore. Heck, I can't
believe how few people I know working on the XML Protocol Requirements:

    http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/WD-xp-reqs-20001219/

Is it because I've been working on my own thing for a year that I no
longer pay attention to the W3C? I'm not even sure who's where anymore.
For example, I'm shocked that Dave Raggett left XHTML and XForms to
focus on Voice Browsing. (Openwave must be a very cool company to work
for.)

> I offered the point that it seemed ironic that the World Wide Web
> Consortium used e-mail, not the web, for collaboration.

The right tool for the right job. Nothing is a golden hammer.

> That comment evoked a wide range of reaction, including one from TimBL
> himself. I think he agreed but felt that the stage of evolution of
> the web wasn't far enough along to address the full breadth of
> concerns associated with web based collaboration.

I believe the web has evolved enough to do these things, but only a few
people know *how* to use the existing web to its full potential.

(Insert sentence where I'm in agreement with Dave Winer that we need to
teach the world how to use the Two-Way Web. :)

> But he was willing to listen, so there's an opportunity to move that
> group along, but in the mean time we're stuck with e-mail lists there.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

> But it was extremely revealing how many folks were entrenched in
> e-mail list-based operation -- way more than I expected.

Until the world evolves better tools, email is enough.

> So what's the point? We all have better ways of doing what FoRK does
> today, so we think anyway. But the vast majority of folks aren't
> ready to move along to anything else, so I'd suggest evolution not
> revolution. Just as USENET has evolved into web-based postings (for
> most users today, via Deja and others), FoRK will likely evolve as
> well, perhaps with web-based replies and then something entire new and
> better.

Well-stated. Let's bring it on!

----
Adam@KnowNow.Com

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. Neo: What truth? Spoon boy: There is no spoon. Neo: There is no spoon? Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself


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